Monday, 30 June 2014

So MHAM has gone by in one exciting and busy blur and I'm so happy with the way everything's gone. I hope everyone has had as much fun doing this as myself and Ula have! There have been so many books read by everyone and some really fascinating posts regarding mental health from authors and bloggers; I'm just so proud of everyone that's taken part and really opened up about the topic. I hope this has helped or made a difference to people in some way and perhaps worked at trying to lower the stigma associated with it. I've provided a linky at the bottom of this post for us all to share our MHAM wrap ups!

Friday, 27 June 2014

Louise O'Neill, author of Only Ever Yours stops by for a quick Q&A on her debut and mental health issues.

Today I'm very excited to share a very heartfelt interview with upcoming author Louise O'Neill.

1. Only Ever Yours deals with some pretty difficult subject matter. Could you tell us a little about it and what inspired you to write about such topics?

Only Ever Yours is set in a world in which women are unable to bear female children. Faced with the inevitable extinction of the human race, the decision is made to create The Schools, closed environments in which girls are bred for their beauty and trained from their creation to be subservient to men. I used this dystopian setting as a tool to explore issues that women face in our culture today, such as the fetishisation of thinness, the idea of the Beauty Myth, and the sexualisation of all women, but young women in particular.

I think the idea for Only Ever Yours was inspired by a summer I spent in India in 2006. I was volunteering in the Shishu Bhavan orphanage in Kolkata, and had noticed that the majority of the orphans were female. While I was still in Kolkata, I randomly came across a book called May you be the Mother of a Hundred Sons by Elisabeth Bumiller, which introduced me to the idea of sex selective abortion and the high rates of mortality amongst female babies in poorer areas of India. It wasn’t until much later, (and after I had taken a module called ‘Catastrophe and Post Apocalyptic Fiction’ at university) that the idea of a feminist dystopian novel started to formulate.

Thursday, 26 June 2014

This is a meme hosted by me here at my blog :).The aim of this meme is to share with fellow bloggers a character, spell, chapter, object or quote from the books/ films/ J. K. Rowling herself or anything Potter related! I will be picking a topic within HP for us to focus on each week and then if anyone wants to take part feel free! All I ask is to link back here, to my blog :). There is now a full list of the topics to come in the Harry Potter section of my blog here.

Tuesday, 24 June 2014

It's always hard to know where to start with a post like this. I don't do many posts that aren't book related in some way so this is a completely new experience for me. If you know me in person, you know I'm not shy to talk about my experiences with anxiety and panic attacks. I'm fairly open about it. I'll talk about it with people in the hope that my experience can help anyone else that has it. This wasn't always the case. I used to be absolutely mortified by it and I felt like I was so weak and useless. I was also prone to a fair amount of self pity - why me? etc. etc. but I think that's only natural. I feel like this is taking on such a formal tone and this wasn't my intention. I think after so many years of essay writing it just comes natural. Anyway, I thought today would be a good day to chat through my experiences of anxiety, how it was for me and the changes I went through. Please bare with me!

My anxiety and panic attacks started towards the end of my first year of university, so June 2010. So that's roughly four years ago. At the time, I had no idea what was going on. I felt sad, shaken up, dizzy, sick, I couldn't breath. I was convinced that there was something seriously wrong with me. This happened on and off for days, weeks, then months. I went to the doctors so many times with complaints and each time they told me I was healthy. I was fine. There was nothing wrong with me. This did nothing to ease my mind. These symptoms didn't stop. I remember sitting in my Introduction to Gender exam and not being able to stop shaking. I sat there, wrote as much as I could for 45 minutes and then pretty much ran out of there and back to my room. I couldn't cope with it and I got such a rubbish mark and didn't complete the exam.

Monday, 23 June 2014

Today we have the lovely Beth from Miss Inga Page to talk to us about Eating Disorders in YA. It's such an amazing post - I hope you enjoy it!

Eating Disorders in Young Adult Fiction

Now, as some of you might know (from me complaining about it on Twitter
on, more or less, a daily basis), I am currently in full-blown thesis writing
mode for my Master’s degree, where I am writing about representations of
anorexia nervosa in Young Adult Fiction.

When I told Leah about this, she very kindly asked
me if I would write a post for Mental Health Awareness Month, which is being
hosted by both Leah and Ula throughout
the month of June. Mental Health Awareness Month is being run with the hope of
decreasing some of the stigma attached to mental health issues. So, for the
entire month of June, bloggers have been writing posts, reading books and
writing reviews, and just generally talking about the topic! You can even find
them on Twitter: just search for #MHAMJune!

Saturday, 21 June 2014

Today we have a special 'game' for you as part of MHAM June, and it's a creativity challenge! Your task is to make something MHAM related and it can earn you a prize! So what's the deal?

You have differently ranked challenge levels depending on the difficulty of the task. You can pick whichever, or all of them to participate in the game and the giveaway. Post them on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, wherever you want to, and share it with us so we can see what you created!

Level 1 - PHOTOGRAPHY: Take a picture of something that represents MHAM to you. It can be anything as long as it means something MHAM related. A description would be very welcome. (Worth 2 points in Rafflecopter)

Level 2 - POETRY: Write a poem or a haiku about MHAM related topics or the event itself. (Worth 3 points in Rafflecopter)

Level 3 - ACTING: Reenact a scene from a MHAM book, and make a video or post a photo of it. (Worth 5 points in Rafflecopter)

PRIZES

1 WINNER will receive a Voucher for 10 $ off Amazon (INT)
1 WINNER will receive FAR FROM YOU by Tess Sharpe paperback (UK)

RULES
1. You have to do one level of the challenge to participate!
2. You have to accept the prize in 48 hours or we draw another winner.
3. We are not responsible for lost books!
4. We reserve the right to disqualify anyone that is breaking these rules.

Friday, 20 June 2014

Today I logged onto Twitter to see it exploding with exclamations about the closing of Strange Chemistry (YA imprint) and Exhibit A (Crime imprint); two imprints of a much loved publishing company Angry Robot Books. I sat there completely gobsmacked just flicking through the tweets, refusing to believe what I was reading. Unfortunately, it's 100% true. I quickly flicked onto the Angry Robot Books website and this is the updated provided:

As you will be aware, Angry Robot Books has a history of innovation and we continue to go from strength to strength. We’re constantly trying out new concepts and new ideas, and we continue to publish popular and award-winning books. Our YA imprint Strange Chemistryand our crime/mystery imprint Exhibit A have – due mainly to market saturation – unfortunately been unable to carve out their own niches with as much success.We have therefore made the difficult decision to discontinue Strange Chemistry and Exhibit A, effective immediately, and no further titles will be published from these two imprints.The core Angry Robot imprint is robust, however, and we plan to increase our output from 2 books a month, to 3. We have no plans to cancel any titles other than those of Strange Chemistry and Exhibit A.

Chloe Hammond stops by the blog today to share with us why writing helps her with mental health!

Finding Strength Through Writing

I have had periods throughout my life when my anxiety levels have been high. It was a huge relief when I realised that these feelings of stress weren’t logical, and were just my body’s reaction to too much cortisol over too long a period. I realised I didn’t have to take my worries at these times seriously; I learnt how to challenge them and learnt how much daily gratitude and reframing all my thoughts into the positive helped my mood. For example I would concentrate on what I did want to achieve rather than what I wanted to avoid. I also found that herbal remedies like valerian and 5htp helped me sleep, so the cycle would be broken and I’d get back on my feet in no time. Very few people were aware I had a problem at all, and as I got better and better at recognising the warning signs, I was able to help myself sooner and I knew enough to ignore or challenge the negative thoughts. I bought a hypnotism CD and used the relaxation tracks on that to soothe and relax me any time I felt my stress levels rising. In my lines of work you have to accept that stress is par for the course.

Thursday, 19 June 2014

This is a meme hosted by me here at my blog :).The aim of this meme is to share with fellow bloggers a character, spell, chapter, object or quote from the books/ films/ J. K. Rowling herself or anything Potter related! I will be picking a topic within HP for us to focus on each week and then if anyone wants to take part feel free! All I ask is to link back here, to my blog :). There is now a full list of the topics to come in the Harry Potter section of my blog here.

Sunday, 15 June 2014

And while he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his year yet socially awkward,he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it.

Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mix tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But he can't stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a deeply affecting coming-of-age story that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.

Saturday, 14 June 2014

In a world in which baby girls are no longer born naturally, women are bred in schools, trained in the arts of pleasing men until they are ready for the outside world. At graduation, the most highly rated girls become “companions”, permitted to live with their husbands and breed sons until they are no longer useful.

For the girls left behind, the future – as a concubine or a teacher – is grim.

Best friends Freida and Isabel are sure they’ll be chosen as companions – they are among the most highly rated girls in their year.

But as the intensity of final year takes hold, Isabel does the unthinkable and starts to put on weight. ..

And then, into this sealed female environment, the boys arrive, eager to choose a bride.

Freida must fight for her future – even if it means betraying the only friend, the only love, she has ever known…

Hi guys! How's Mental Health Awareness Month going for you all so far? I'm excited to share with you the second weekend of challenge based giveaways with you! Today's is a little different to last weeks. The aim is to guess the book and author from the section of cover that we give you. Each guess will earn you points in the Rafflecopter below. This competition is open internationally so all can enter!

Here are a few rules:

No posting results in the comments. Please fill in the Rafflecopter for it to count.

You have to name the book title and author! Only then is the entry is accepted.

You have to guess all 10 correctly to win!

The giveaway is open internationally

I reserve the right to disqualify anyone that doesn't play by the rules!

Please respond to the winning email within 48 hours or another winner will be chosen.

Friday, 13 June 2014

Sarah Rayner, author of One Moment, One Morning, has stopped by to answer a couple of questions for MHAM!

Is Another Night,
Another Day drawn from personal experience?

I’m often asked if my novels reflect my own life and the honest answer is 'of course they do’. That doesn't mean my books are autobiographical: they're not. My husband, Tom, didn't die on the train like Karen’s husband in One Moment, One Morning and I've never been through IVF like Lou in The Two Week Wait.

Equally, my circumstances are not identical to those of Karen, Abby or Michael in this new novel, which focuses on three people, crying out for help, who meet in a psychiatric clinic. I’m not a widow, like Karen, (who appears in both this book and One Moment, One Morning), nor do I have a child with autism like Abby, or run a florist like Michael (both of whom are new characters). However, I do have first-hand experience of crippling anxiety, and it's this that motivated me to write the book, which also touches on depression, bi-polar illness, even suicide.

Thursday, 12 June 2014

This is a meme hosted by me here at my blog :).The aim of this meme is to share with fellow bloggers a character, spell, chapter, object or quote from the books/ films/ J. K. Rowling herself or anything Potter related! I will be picking a topic within HP for us to focus on each week and then if anyone wants to take part feel free! All I ask is to link back here, to my blog :). There is now a full list of the topics to come in the Harry Potter section of my blog here.

Today the lovely Kim Curran is on the blog to talk about de-stigmatising mental health within YA books.

De-stigmatising Mental Health in Young Adult Books

1 in 10 young adults will experience some form of mental health problem. Or at least, 1 in 10 are diagnosed with mental health problems. I suspect millions of teenagers struggle by without ever getting the help they need because either they don’t recognise what they’re going through as a problem or they’re too afraid to speak up for fear of being classified as a freak.

There is still a huge stigma attached to mental illness. Shame of being judged. Fear of being excluded and treated differently. All of which can stop young people speaking out.

According to a survey by Time-to-change 9 in 10 of the young people with mental health problems said the stigma they received from those around them was worse than the illness itself.

Monday, 9 June 2014

On a brisk autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman arrives in Amsterdam to begin a new life as the wife of illustrious merchant trader Johannes Brandt. But her new home, while splendorous, is not welcoming. Johannes is kind yet distant, always locked in his study or at his warehouse office-leaving Nella alone with his sister, the sharp-tongued and forbidding Marin.

But Nella's world changes when Johannes presents her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a cabinet-sized replica of their home. To furnish her gift, Nella engages the services of a miniaturist-an elusive and enigmatic artist whose tiny creations mirror their real-life counterparts in eerie and unexpected ways . . .

Johannes' gift helps Nella to pierce the closed world of the Brandt household. But as she uncovers its unusual secrets, she begins to understand-and fear-the escalating dangers that await them all. In this repressively pious society where gold is worshipped second only to God, to be different is a threat to the moral fabric of society, and not even a man as rich as Johannes is safe. Only one person seems to see the fate that awaits them. Is the miniaturist the key to their salvation . . . or the architect of their destruction?

Enchanting, beautiful, and exquisitely suspenseful, The Miniaturist is a magnificent story of love and obsession, betrayal and retribution, appearance and truth.

Hi all! In the spirit of Mental Health Awareness Month, one of our hosts Leah over atUncorked Thoughtssuggested I whip up a Top 10 post on the best ways to deal with anxiety. Of course, considering my background in natural health, these will have natural health leanings but I've also mixed in generalized tips and advice as well!

1. Breathing. Breathing is important - it sounds like common sense or too simple to actually have an effect but time and time again studies have shown that taking a moment to stop and focus on breathing in and out slowly has positive results in calming down nerves, anxiety or panic attacks. I shared a fun little 60 second video previously that addresses proper breathing techniques, to view it click here.

2.Nutrition. Think of your body like your car. Food is the fuel that keeps your car running smoothly. If you're prone to anxiety or panic attacks you should be aware of how caffeine, sugar, artificial ingredients (food colouring, preservatives, aspartame etc) can negatively impact your nervous system and overall mental health. Speaking from experience when I started eliminating coffee and processed foods from my diet, I noticed a HUGE difference in my anxiety levels. That doesn't mean I don't have caffeine or sweet deserts in my life but instead of visiting a local coffee chain, I drink homemade tea and instead of processed store-bought cheese cake, I make my own so I can decide what goes in it.

Not to his mum - who he calls Linda because it annoys her - who's moved out and left him to fend for himself. Nor to his former best friend, whose torments have driven him to consider committing the unthinkable. But to his four friends: a Humphrey-Bogart-obsessed neighbour, a teenage violin virtuoso, a pastor's daughter and a teacher.

Most of the time, Leonard believes he's weird and sad but these friends have made him think that maybe he's not. He wants to thank them, and say goodbye.

1.The Extra
Ordinary Life of Frank Derrick, Age 81 just so happens to be written by a
complete star and a man who has a wonderful way with
words – Jim Bob from Carter USM.

2.The original title of this book was The 12 Days of Kelly Christmas. So Kelly
had her name up in lights before Frank did! She is very much at the heart of
the book and the charming cross generation friendship between Kelly Christmas
and Frank Derrick is both heart-warming and poignant.

3.This novel is filled with humour and reads like
TV comedy gold. It reminded me of sitting down to watch the Two Ronnies or
Victor Meldrew. There are so many wonderful one liners too – it’s the type of
book that you can enjoy reading aloud to your friends or chuckle along to as
you read on the train.

4.Frank’s character leaps off the page from the
opening lines of the book and makes you laugh. He makes you laugh because
everyone knows someone a little bit like Frank.

5.Frank is a character that you won’t forget in a
hurry. When you finish this book you’ll feel like you have been to Frank’s
flat, sat down in his cluttered living room and had a cup of tea and a biscuit
well past its sell-by-date.

Friday, 6 June 2014

Matt Clifton is here today to recommend books to help you through mental health issues!

Often I hear about Mental Health, I either hear about the condition because I have it and know how challenging the condition can be to live with, or I am approached on my website - Beat Depression Together - by other people for my advice, support or to share my journey to date. I am happy to help other people where I can by sharing my journey, but what shows here is that many people do not understand Mental Health and I say it is time for it to be understood! Why should those who experience Mental Health go through it alone and not be understood? It’s hard to cope with Mental Health and not having the support of close friends or family can makes things a lot worse for people like ‘us’, so it is about time to help those who do not understand Mental Health, understand it and that could be through an informative talk or perhaps through purchasing a book and there are several books which can help you to understand Mental Health much better, although not as well as actually having it can, of course.

Thursday, 5 June 2014

Eleanor is the new girl in town, and with her chaotic family life, her mismatched clothes and unruly red hair, she couldn't stick out more if she tried.

Park is the boy at the back of the bus. Black T-shirts, headphones, head in a book - he thinks he's made himself invisible. But not to Eleanor... never to Eleanor.

Slowly, steadily, through late-night conversations and an ever-growing stack of mix tapes, Eleanor and Park fall for each other. They fall in love the way you do the first time, when you're young, and you feel as if you have nothing and everything to lose.

Wednesday, 4 June 2014

I can't quite believe I'm going to type this, but today MARCUS SEDGWICK is on the blog to chat to us about Mental Health Awareness. Thank you so much to Nina at Orion Books for making this possible and a huge thank you to Marcus himself for taking the time out to do this!

Hi Marcus and welcome to Uncorked Thoughts and I'm so happy
to host you on my blog. Thanks so much for agreeing to take part in Mental
Health Awareness Month! It’s something which is so important to me and I really
hope this month helps raise a little awareness.

What was it that made you want to take part in this month?
Is Mental Health something that is close to you?

Mental Health should be something we are all concerned
about. The figures state that at least one in four adults will suffer from
mental health problems at some point in their lives. So even if you’re not
affected, someone in your family is likely to be. For people of a creative
frame of mind, the figures are even more startling – I’ve heard it said that
one in two writers suffers from depression at some point in their lives. I have
been one of those writers, and the mere fact that I hesitated briefly before
writing that shows the trouble we’re in. No one would hesitate to say that they
had a broken leg once upon a time, or that they had had a heart attack. That’s
why we need as many people as possible to talk as honestly as possible about
the subject. There are still too many people who think mental health problems
are ‘their fault’ or due to ‘weakness’ or self-indulgence. Most mental health
problems are a combination of genetics and brain chemistry, neither of which
you get to choose.

How important do you think it is to de-stigmatise mental
health issues?

In the last four years, I have known two friends who committed
suicide due to depression. Without going into details, I believe it was a
combination of living in families who felt that matters of mental health just
simply shouldn’t be admitted to, let alone discussed, plus the fact that
doctors are all too ready to dish out anti-depressants that can, while the body
is getting used to them, have exactly the opposite effect to what is desired,
and cause greater imbalances of the mind. What is needed is more understanding
and help through GOOD counselling. It does exist, and I was lucky to get
excellent help through the NHS when I needed it.

Have any mental health experiences or topics inspired your
novels?

Not directly. I have touched on the issue at times, but only
in a very loose and fictional way. I have a book coming out later in the year,
one quarter of which is set in what we would now call a psychiatric hospital,
but, at the time and place the story is set (New York in the 1920s) was called
an insane asylum. Researching such hospitals led me to get interested in how
mental health care has changed over the years, from the earnest but often dark
beginnings of men like Charcot, through Freud, to the brutality of the mid-20th
century’s experiments with horrific drugs and techniques. We’re better than we
were at this. We still have a long way to go.

The term mental health comes with a variety of different
meanings to different people; from anxiety, depression and panic attacks, to
anorexia, cerebral palsy and OCD. Do you think there’s enough coverage of
mental health in literature, whether that’s YA or adult?

You’re right – saying mental health and thinking it means
one thing would be like saying physical health and expecting that to mean
anything useful. I think there could be much more done in literature. The trouble,
as always, with writing about such things is how to avoid making it an ISSUE
book – clumsy and didactic. It can be done, and YA fiction is a very good place
to do it. There’s a massively important dynamic occurring in the relationship
between the teenager, the parent, and the dark things in life. I am often asked
why I write dark things in my books. The answer is because we all think them.
And we tend to start thinking about dark things when we hit teenage-hood. It’s
a matter of basic bio chemistry in the brain and the fact that we have become
old enough to be properly aware of things like death. These thoughts can be
frightening, but as a teenager, we may not be able to turn to our parents, or
other adults, to seek reassurance. And
even if we can, we may find that our parents are so scared by seeing their
children (who only ‘yesterday’ were running around as happy young things)
contemplating the dark matters of life, that they refuse to admit it, and
suppress their child’s desire to say ‘help me!’ So either way, books are a
great and safe place to explore the dark corners of life, and that’s why we
could do with more options for young readers to turn to.

What are your top recommended reads for readers which want
to read more books that explore mental health issues?

Marcus Sedgwick was born and raised in East Kent in the South-east of England. He now divides his time between a small village near Cambridge and a remote house in the French Alps.Alongside a 16 year career in publishing he established himself as a widely-admired writer of YA fiction; he is the winner of many prizes, most notably the Printz Award (Midwinterblood), the Booktrust Teenage Prize, and the Blue Peter Book Award. His books have been shortlisted for over thirty other awards, including the Carnegie Medal (five times), the Edgar Allan Poe Award (twice) and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize (four times). In 2011 Revolver was awarded a Printz Honor.

Tuesday, 3 June 2014

Hey guys! I hope you're enjoying Mental Health Awareness Month so far. We've had such an inspiring guest post from Carrie at Glass House Press already and we have a corker of an interview/ giveaway lined up for you tomorrow. Follow this link to our sign-up post with the schedule for the month!

From the author of the bestselling One Moment, One Morning comes another beautiful, bittersweet novel set in Brighton…

Three people, each crying out for help

There’s Karen, about to lose her father; Abby, whose son has autism and needs constant care, and Michael, a family man on the verge of bankruptcy. As each sinks under the strain, they’re brought together at Moreland’s Psychiatric Clinic.

Here, behind closed doors, they reveal their deepest secrets, confront and console one another and share plenty of laughs. But how will they cope when a new crisis strikes?

Monday, 2 June 2014

The second sensational novel from Irish author, Sarah Moore Fitzgerald, following her debut, BACK TO BLACKBRICK, perfect for fans of Annabel Pitcher and Siobhan Dowd.

Oscar Dunleavy, who used to make the world's most perfect apple tarts, is missing, presumed dead. No-one seems too surprised, except for Meg, his best friend, and his little brother Stevie. Surrounded by grief and confusion, Meg and Stevie are determined to find out what happened to Oscar, and together they learn about loyalty and friendship and the power of never giving up hope.

Sunday, 1 June 2014

Hey guys, welcome to the introductory post for Mental Health Awareness Month! I can't believe it's kick off time already - May has completely flown by and I'm so excited to get this going. This post is all about the books we're going to be reading, why we're hosting it and a schedule of the upcoming challenges, giveaways and guest posts we've got for this month! We have one giveaway which will be running all month and that is the Donation Giveaway! This is open to everyone that donates to any Mental Health based charity with chances to win a book of your choice from The Book Depository, an Amazon voucher, a Blog of Erised Blog Design and a Katie McGarry boxset.